Treasury Sanctions BitBank Over Iran Bitcoin Toll Scheme — SkimNews
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- BitBank, an Iranian crypto exchange controlled by financier Babak Zanjani, was designated by OFAC for allegedly processing "hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Bitcoin" sent to the IRGC between June and July.
- Babak Zanjani, who was designated by OFAC in January, was sentenced to death in Iran in 2016 for embezzling from the National Iranian Oil Company, had his sentence commuted in 2024, and has been advertising BitBank on social media since at least 2024.
- The Hormuz Safe Marine Services Authority has been routing Bitcoin payments it collects for Strait of Hormuz transit rights through BitBank since June — the same authority Treasury separately designated in July for the toll scheme.
- Pishtaz Simorgh Electronic Trade Company, which built BitBank's software as a subsidiary of the already-designated Dot One Value Creation Group, was also sanctioned, along with three Dot One executives: Hossein Ali Zaker Hossein, Mohammad Mahdi Zaker Hossein, and Seyed Adel Heidari.
- All five designations were made under Executive Order 13902, which the administration extended in August to cover anyone operating in Iran's digital asset sector, as part of Bessent's "Operation Economic Outcast" launched August 24.
- U.S. assets of the five are blocked, entities they own 50% or more of are blocked, and non-U.S. firms dealing with them risk secondary sanctions; on Decrypt-parent Dastan's Myriad market, odds of Washington ending its naval blockade of Iranian shipping by September 30 have dropped to 10% (from 40%), with a December 31 deadline at just 60%.
Why it matters: The sanctions freeze U.S. assets of five entities and expose any non-U.S. firm dealing with BitBank to secondary sanctions — a material choke point for anyone routing crypto into Iran's regime-linked ecosystem. Treasury has now extended EO 13902 specifically into Iran's digital-asset sector and rolled out the action under Bessent's "Economic D-Day" campaign backed by the EU, UK, and Gulf partners, signaling the pressure campaign is escalating, not winding down — prediction markets now price just 10% odds of the naval blockade lifting within 10 days.
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